The Secret To Reaching Goals: Keep Them Fun and Attainable

All too often, I get sucked into the vortex of digital comparisons. Do you, too?

It starts out innocently enough — I’ll be scrolling through Instagram on the weekend and see one beautifully composed still life after another. You know the ones: that perfect golden light shining down over a beautifully prepared breakfast at the coolest cafe in town with a frothy latte peeking into the edge of the frame. Oh, and don’t forget the freshly done gel manicure casually resting on the table.

If you feel a touch of envy creeping up like I sometimes do, it’s a good idea to step back and analyze your feelings. When I stop and actually think about it, my feelings are not rooted in wanting to be there. My feelings are rooted in wanting to create images that look that beautiful. And from many years of experience, I know that it’s much harder than it looks.

Like most of you, I work full-time, splitting my hours between Branch and Blogcademy and there just isn’t a lot of leftover time to creatively experiment just for fun. The easy way out would be to make excuses — I’m too busy, I’m too too tired, I’m too whatever. But excuses will get you nowhere.

A better solution is to set small, attainable goals. I’m a big fan of goals that build up steadily but don’t take over your life. Who needs more stress and pressure?

With the goal set to improve my still life skills, I created a simple challenge for myself last year: on Fridays, I’d set aside 10 minutes or so and snap a photo of a new composition. To track my progress, I’d tag it with #stilllifefriday. Though I’ve taken a few weeks off here and there, the photos are starting to accumulate. It’s been nice having something simple yet fun to look forward to every Friday.

Whether you’re struggling to blog, Instagram, or *insert task here* more often, the key is to set manageable goals. That way, the finish line always feels within reach. Keep it fun and keep it light.

Here are some suggestions:

• If reading more is on your list, join a book club to stay motivated! There’s a great one going on over at A Beautiful Mess and the selections change out monthly.

Thank you for this post! It totally supports my own small goal.
I always get this “envious” feeling when I see a woman with great, all perfect outfit. Not that I want to look like that woman, I only think “why do I not wear all the great clothes and accessories I have in my wardrobe, but go for slim pants and black turtleneck sweater all the time?”.

So I started to put my clothes in a closet app, which gave me an overview of what I actually own.
And now my goal is to only wear “new” combinations with at least one accessory. It’s a small step, but it gives me such a good feeling!

Exactly! It’s not about looking like someone or being in a certain moment, it’s about wanting to accomplish your own goals and seeing yourself in what’s happening. Sounds like you’ve found a solid solution!

I think the main thing I want to improve this year is my photography and design, the goal is to slowly develop my very own design style. Perhaps not the smallest of goals, however considering I do study graphic design I believe it should be quite achievable.

I love Skillshare, too! Good for you for taking the initiative. I feel like my “style” didn’t really come out until I’d put a few thousand hours into my work…and now it’s always there, no matter what I do. 😉 Good luck!

I’m definitely a fan of small goals! My main goal right now is responding to the letters I receive within a week of receiving them. It’s a super simple goal, and easy to achieve but I often talk myself out of replying to letters because I like to be lazy!

Great advice, thank you! I’ve been wanting to work on my photo skills but it feels so daunting. Setting aside a small chunk of time once a week sounds easy peasy. You just might see me using that hashtag soon! 😉

Love this post, Shauna! Since finally launching my site, I’ve been juggling writing new content, taking pictures and going through stock images I’ve accumulated to treat with my branding guide, marketing my new workshops and trying my best to carve out time to work on my group’s new record & new live show for later this year. It’s been nuts, but I’m feeling really creative and excited about every little achievement. Feels good.

I think adding one more thing would be insane, but somehow, I’m really wanting to improve my still life skills, so I may just give myself a gentle push to jump into your #StillLifeFridays 😉

I love your still life’s Shauna, and I may think I’ll join you on Fridays, because I want to create still life’s as beautiful as you do! 😀 Another thing that’s on my list for this year is stepping up my blogging game. There are so many little things to do (besides creating posts), that I get overwhelmed and then simply paralyzed. I set a goal to just start with the CONTENT for my media kit. Not the photos, layout, etc., but the actual words. It’s been hard, but I’m sticking with it and am on my way to being done!

Nice to meet you!

I'm Shauna, a graphic designer and entrepreneur. I spend my days as the Creative Director of Branch, a boutique design studio. This is my personal blog, which has been going strong since 2007. I'm obsessed with shoes, squirrels and traveling. Read more…

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